Cities and villages in the religious conflict circle: Socio-demographic factors of communal and sectarian conflict in West Java, Indonesia

Adon N Jamaludin

doi:10.4102/hts.v77i4.6854

Abstract

This article analyses the forms of religious conflict in cities (urban areas) and villages (rural areas) in Indonesia. The main locus of this study is in 11 regencies and cities in West Java, a province with the highest ranking of violations of religious freedom in Indonesia for the last two decades (2000–2020). These regencies and cities include: Bekasi Regency, Bekasi City, Bogor Regency, Bogor City, Tasikmalaya Regency, Bandung Regency, Bandung City, Kuningan Regency, Garut Regency, Cianjur Regency and Cimahi City. The study confirms that the sociological characteristics of urban and rural areas influence the tendency of different forms of conflict in both areas. On the one hand, heterogeneous urban social conditions tend to have an impact on the forms of conflict between religious communities – Muslims and Christians. On the other hand, the homogeneous rural social conditions affect the forms of conflict that are internal to religious communities or fellow Muslims. This study shows that religious conflict in a region cannot be generalised because each region has different socio-demographic conditions. Therefore, knowledge of differences in socio-demographic conditions in each region is very important because it will determine the form, causes and the ways to handle the conflicts in each region.Contribution: This study contributes to mapping the different sociological characteristics of religious conflict in cities and villages in West Java. It can be used as an illustration for other regions in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

Highlights

West Java province in Indonesia has the highest number of violations of freedom of religious expression and beliefs
This study focuses on the socio-demographic aspect as a point of view in analysing religious conflict in West Java
Religious conflicts in urban areas related to the construction of worship places continue to occur even though the Indonesian government has established SKB No.1/Ber/ MDN-MAG/1969 concerning the implementation of government apparatus duties in ensuring order and smooth implementation of religious development and worship by its adherents and the Joint Regulation of the Minister of Religion and the Minister of Home Affairs Number 8 of 2006 and Number 9 of 2006 concerning Guidelines for Implementation of Tasks Regional Heads/Deputy Regional Heads in maintaining Religious Harmony, Empowering Religious Harmony Forums and establishing houses of worship (Rumadi 2007:10–11)

Summary

Introduction

West Java province in Indonesia has the highest number of violations of freedom of religious expression and beliefs. Socio-anthropologically, urban areas in West Java have been transformed into cultural faults, where socio-religious groups from various religions meet because of their high level of urbanisation In these areas, there are diverse elements of social class (strata), ethnicity, religion, culture, customs, language and gender, and people tend to live independently without mixing each other (Nasikun 1986:31). This confirms that the urban and rural sociodemographic conditions influence the tendency of different forms of conflicts in their respective regions. Homogeneous rural social conditions affect the internal forms of sectarian conflict amongst religious communities or fellow Muslims as manifested by the Ahmadiyah case in Tasikmalaya, Garut, Kuningan and Cianjur. Religious diversity in urban areas occurs along with the heterogeneity of the population itself

Bandung City

Garut Regency

Findings

Conclusion